When Zhou Yu was summoned and came to Sun Quan, there were only a few people left in the hall: Sun Quan, Da Qiao, Zhang Zhao, Cheng Pu, and Lu Su.
No one knew what they discussed. The monitors under Cao Wu only saw that Zhou Yu was smiling before entering the hall, and when he came out, his face was already serious.
The meeting between Zhou Yu and Sun Quan should have happened long ago, but a nursery rhyme changed everything.
After the meeting, the distrusted commander silently walked back to Da Qiao's residence alone, with a steady but lonely pace.
On the other side, Cao Wu had left the hall early and was walking on the road full of thoughts. Suddenly, someone caught up with him and grabbed his sleeve, but it was Pang Tong.
Pang Tong said: "Zhang Song, are you worthy of the hundreds of thousands of people in Jiangxia when you offer your advice to Sun Quan?"
Cao Wu threw off his sleeves and said, "My lord is about to leave Xichuan and sweep across Jingxiang. The world is in jeopardy. Why can't you let the people down?"
Pang Tong said: "But Xuande Gong only has the strength of one county, how can he fight against a million troops!"
Zhao Yun also pulled out his sword with a bang, and the sword light glowed with a cold light.
Zhao Yun pointed his sword at the sky and said: "Zhao hates sycophants like you the most in his life. If you weren't the envoy of Yizhou, I would kill you today!"
Cao Wudao: "Zilong, since you know that I am the envoy of Yizhou, you should know that the agency plans, and everyone depends on their own ability. Win or lose is up to you. Besides, if General Sun hadn't already had a plan, who could persuade him? "
Zhao Yun said with emotion: "You mean they didn't intend to rescue us in the first place?"
Pang Tong stopped and said: "Zilong, this man has millions of soldiers in his mouth, don't argue with him! Let's go and think of other ways!"
Zhao Yun swung his sword into its sheath and said: "Zhang Song, if I, Zhao Zilong, have the opportunity to enter Sichuan in the future, I will definitely take your head!"
Cao Wu laughed loudly: "Zhang Song pledged his body to the country, and you can take this great head as long as you want!"
Pang Tong was furious, but Cao Wu had already left.
Pang Tong was very talented and well-known in the world of scholars. He was called Mr. Fengchu by the world, ranking with Zhuge Wolong.
When it comes to appraising celebrities all over the world, he believes that he has an excellent vision and is capable of handling government affairs. But for the military aspect, he was not strong enough, so he worked hard and studied military affairs with the Central Guards Zhou Yu. Unexpectedly, Zhou Yu was too busy and had not seen him a few times. He wasted his time in Jiangdong for nearly two years.
Later, when I heard about the chaos in Jingxiang, I couldn't worry about my friends, so I turned around. I met Zhang Fei and Mi Fang, and finally decided to join Liu Bei.
On this mission, he thought that with his ability, he would have no problem convincing Sun Quan to send troops, but unexpectedly, Zhang Song was the first to do so.
How can you not be angry about this!
His magnanimity was not as good as that of the equally famous Kong Ming, and his strengths were in government affairs rather than military affairs. This setback made him depressed and unhappy.
He and Zhao Yun returned to the inn angrily. Pang Tong was still thinking about going to Lu Su to fight for him, but he didn't expect that Lu Su was already waiting in the inn.
Pang Tong was overjoyed and came up and said: "Zijing, forming an alliance to fight against Cao Cao was originally a matter of mutual benefit. Now Jiangdong has formed an alliance but refuses to send an army. What should we do?"
Lu Su looked at Pang Tong seriously with a cold face and said nothing.
Pang Tong retreated and asked for the next best thing: "If that doesn't work, can we discuss with General Sun to reinforce Xiakou with more troops and horses, and General Zhou must be sent to do so."
Lu Su sighed and said: "More than a month ago, I went on an envoy to Duke Xuande. During this time, I was deeply impressed by Duke Xuande's benevolence and righteousness. For Duke Xuande and for my elders in Jiangdong, I worked hard to promote the alliance. , I didn’t expect it…”
Pang Tong frowned, already sensing something was wrong.
Lu Su continued: "I didn't expect that you, Pang Shiyuan, would come up with such a trick! Shiyuan, if you want me to be at odds with General Jiangdong, you might as well do it in an upright manner. Why use these conspiracies and tricks!"
Pang Tong was surprised: "What conspiracy did I use?"
Lu Su pointed to a guard.
The guard cupped his fists and saluted: "My subordinates have found out that the person who spread the nursery rhyme before is staying in this inn!"
After hearing this, Pang Tong felt a wake-up call and suddenly became dizzy.
How smart he was, he figured out the cause and effect in one go, stood up unsteadily, and said with hatred: "Zhang Ziqiao! It was Zhang Song who did it! He framed me!"
Lu Su watched silently, but did not step forward or ask why he said Zhang Song's name.
Seeing Lu Su's reaction, Pang Tong already understood that Lu Su had already determined that he was responsible.
I am afraid that Sun Quan finally decided to send only a small group of troops to support Jiangxia, and this is also the reason.
Lu Su said: "Zhang Song's guards are all in the courtyard. I have confirmed this with Mrs. Zhou! All of Duke Xuande's subordinates are teachers of benevolence and righteousness. Sir, please don't lose the name of Duke Xuande!"
"me……"
Pang Tong took two steps back, feeling the world was spinning, and spit out a mouthful of blood with a "pop" sound.
"Zhang Song, I, Pang Shiyuan, have nothing to do with you!"
…
Cao Wu felt his nostrils were itchy and wanted to sneeze but didn't.
Maybe someone cursed themselves, but the curse turned out to be wrong.
He happily returned to the courtyard, called a guard, and after asking, Xiao Qiao took the medicine and prepared it himself.
He found Zhang Xia again and asked Zhang Xia to bring a small cage, but inside was a white bird.
This is a homing pigeon, a pet carefully tamed by Beifu's maid, A-Twelve.
In this era, there was no mature technology for carrier pigeons. According to Cao Wu's request, Ah Twelve devised a way to domesticate pigeons, and only managed to raise less than ten pigeons in total.
These homing pigeons, no matter where they are, can return to the base of domestication as long as they are released.
As for the base of Ten Birds, in addition to Yecheng and Xudu, there are also Xiangyang and Jiangling.
You know, these two places were still under the rule of Liu Biao a few months ago.
"A-Twelve has suffered a lot because of you. He works during the day and raises pigeons at night. Tsk tsk."
Cao Wu teased the pigeon, then put a brief letter on its lap and let it fly.
In just one night, it will fly to Jiangling, where there are waiting slaves of Beifu, and will quickly deliver the letter to the deaf slave in Cao Cao's camp, who will then deliver it to Cheng Yu, and finally appear in front of Cao Cao.
This set of message delivery process is faster than any transmission tool in this era. Information that takes ten and a half months to be sent to other places can be sent to Cao Wu's Beifu in just one day.
He had prepared too much for this battle.
After the carrier pigeons were released, he returned to his room. When he opened the door, two sweet smiles came from inside. When he looked closely, he saw Ada and Sun Shangxiang sitting on the bedside, talking affectionately.
Cao Wu pointed at them and said, "What are you doing?"
Sun Shangxiang's face turned red. She stood up and hesitated, not knowing what to do.
Cao Wu was secretly happy, and finally became a door god for a while.
Ah Da glared at Cao Wu and said, "Shang Xiang, please leave first, I'm afraid sir..."
She hid her face and pretended to cry, but Sun Shangxiang immediately said angrily: "Ugly, you are not allowed to bully Big Brother!"
"elder brother?"
So you haven't found out she's a woman yet?
Sun Shangxiang held up the steamed bun and said, "If you dare to bully him again, I will ask my second brother to deal with you!"
"Okay, okay, let's go!"
Cao Wu finally managed to get Sun Shangxiang away, and then he slapped Ada on the upturned peach who stood up to see him off. He pretended to be angry and said, "What are you doing? The big Qiao is going to fight on his behalf, are you picking up girls on his behalf?" ?”
Ada jumped up with an "ouch" and kicked him several times angrily, but he was weak and weak. Finally, Cao Wu threw him onto the bed.
Ah Da turned away and said: "This little girl is pretty good, don't...don't choose her, okay..."
The fake smile on Cao Wu's face suddenly stopped and he sighed: "Why, can't you bear it?"
Ah Dadao: "If you go today, things should be over here. The next step is how to escape. I don't know you yet. There are three beauties around you. They are all important people. You can help us escape by tying any one of them. But... "
"Can't bear to part with all three?"
Ah Da Dao: "Actually, I have been wandering around Chaisang City these past few days and found that the city has been minimally affected by the war, and the city looks very good. If a big army comes one day, will the people still enjoy such a good life?"
She said seriously: "Cao Wu, I follow you to do this because my adoptive father taught me to make a living for the people of the world. But if the people of the world already have a living, what will I do?"
Cao Wu patted her stunning face and said calmly: "Do you still remember the story I told you about the two-legged sheep?"
Ah Da was horrified when he thought of that story.
Cao Wudao: "The Han people are a nation that cannot be bullied, but because of the bathing and enlightenment, they are not bloody. The world is like this. If you are not strong, you will be bullied. My brother must win this battle, because once he loses , the world will be unified seventy years later, and a group of extremely irresponsible people will become emperors, and in the end the story of the two-legged sheep will be staged."
"I have little ability, but since I'm here, I have to do something. History has its own trends, and I also have my own responsibilities. This is what every Han Chinese should do, and that's all."
Ada listened silently, pursed her lips and said nothing.
After a while, Cao Wu changed his tone and said in a playful tone: "So, for the sake of all the people in the world, I want them all, Da Qiao, Xiao Qiao, and Sun Shangxiang!"
Then, a soft pillow was thrown hard on Cao Wu's head.
A night of silence.
The next day, Cao Wu, as a foreign envoy, participated in Jiangdong's expedition ceremony.
At this time, Cao Wucai was informed of the deployment of troops on the Chaisang front line. There are now three troops in Jiangdong. One is led by Sun Bi, the governor of Yuzhang. He is responsible for the rear work after the expedition.
Sun Bi is the son of Sun Jian's brother, who is also Sun Quan's cousin. He belongs to the Sun clan and is older than Sun Ce. He is very prestigious in the Sun family.
Originally, it would have been best for him to stick to the rear, but after Cao Cao conquered Jingxiang, he sent someone to give Sun Bi the title of General of the Conquerors in an attempt to alienate the Sun brothers. So Sun Quan sent Zhou Yu to Poyang to check Sun Ben's thoughts. This was the situation where Zhou Yu was absent before.
Now that Zhou Yu was alienated again, Sun Quan naturally brought his cousin back to guard the rear. Sun Ben had followed Sun Jian, Sun Ce, and Sun Quan for three generations, so he was always more trustworthy than outsiders.
In the other two divisions, Zhou Yu served as the left governor and Cheng Pu served as the right governor, each responsible for a battlefield.
Cheng Pu led 50,000 men stationed east of Chaisang, eastward along the Yangtze River, and marched out of Hefei. He had already taken the tiger talisman and set off yesterday.
Now going out are Zhou Yu's ten thousand men, who will rush to Xiakou.
The difference from yesterday was that Zhou Yu's 10,000 navy troops were all the most elite troops in Jiangdong and were carefully selected.
Sun Quan will follow Zhou Yu on the expedition and personally supervise the battle.
Even Da Qiao actually put on armor and went to Xiakou with the army.
Cao Wu looked at her figure that was not in harmony with her petite body and was silent.
Xiao Qiao stood next to Cao Wu, crying non-stop.
The two most important people in her life went to the front line together.
Even though she didn't understand military affairs, she knew that it was a completely unequal battle. There were only ten thousand people in the Jiangdong Army. How long could it last in front of a million-strong army?
This is not fighting, this is dying.
Zhou Yu rode on horseback, with Sun Quan on his left and Da Qiao on his right.
The flags are hunting, and Zhou Yu's white horse and silver helmet stand in front of the formation.
He drew his sword and shouted: "My sons! They all say that we are going to die. Do you think so?"
The troops shouted: "No!"
"My sons, they said we couldn't defeat the thief Cao, do you think so?"
"no!"
"My sons, Jiangdong has been at ease for eight years, and the northerners have not seen the southern army for eight years. Today we will let them go and never come back!"
Then, he and Sun Quan shouted together: "Jiang Dong Erlang, go to war!"
